Tea for Two
by M-Maltesers
Summary: Yanagi doesn't like tea. Unluckily, or perhaps luckily for him, Sanada likes inviting him over for it. Sanada and Yanagi. Shonenai.


Notes: Thoughtful reviews are nice. :3

**Tea for Two**

**By Miki**

Yanagi wasn't totally used to sitting with his legs tucked under him. Sitting in seiza style seemed too formal somehow as though he were having tea with Sanada's mother instead of Sanada, yet if they'd been doing anything else, he supposed he would have felt odd in his surroundings.

Sanada sat opposite him at the table, both his hands clasped around an old teacup, the teapot on the table in front of them, steam curling out of its spout.

From where Yanagi sat in the room, facing the open doors leading outside, Sanada's head and shoulders were shrouded in sunlight, making it almost difficult to see the expression on his face. The late afternoon light cast long shadows across the room and served to light up the autumn leaves outside in brilliant shades of red and orange.

Yanagi squinted, the brightness almost hurting his eyes. Sanada's kimono rested against his shoulders and his chest, his eyes now closed as he sipped his tea again. The picture in front of Yanagi was almost surreal – something he wanted to touch just to remind himself he wasn't imagining things.

He himself was wearing jeans, and he felt more than a little odd. The long scrolls on the walls and the tatami beneath him made him wonder exactly what the rest of Sanada's home was like. He had only been here a few times before, but every time he came, he felt as though he glimpsed just a little bit more of Sanada's home life – of the things that he liked and did, and of the way he behaved with his family. Yanagi knew he'd probably never be satisfied just seeing these things, but he knew he might just never be satisfied. Curiosity, after all, was both one of his strengths and his biggest weakness.

He wanted to know things about Sanada he knew might never be revealed to him or to anyone else.

The Sanada in front of him almost didn't seem like the Sanada Yanagi knew at Rikkaidai. He was calm and still and when he spoke, his voice was strangely soft.

Sanada didn't often ask questions of Yanagi, but as Yanagi stared at him, he tilted his head very slightly and met Yanagi's eyes in an even stare, meaning he was probably curious as to what Yanagi was doing.

Yanagi swallowed, almost caught off guard. He forced himself to break the silence, unable to respond without speaking in some way.

"I was just looking outside… I'd forgotten how far into autumn we were," he explained, picking up his cup again.

Sanada nodded.

It was a lie that Yanagi wasn't conscious of the passing of time. He was conscious of every minute of every day. He accounted for each and every one and budgeted his time. He prioritised. He ranked what was important and what was unnecessary, and he allocated slices of his day in order to achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiency in what he did.

Visiting Sanada's place hadn't been in his schedule for Sunday, but when on Saturday Sanada had asked him to come over the next day, he'd been so surprised he hadn't really answered at all. He'd made a vague noise which might have been a yes or a no and then had taken his chance to escape, telling himself he'd think about it later and give Sanada an answer. He'd felt too embarrassed telephoning in the morning to confirm though, so he'd ended up coming and catching Sanada by surprise an hour earlier than Sanada had wanted him to arrive.

Yanagi still wasn't sure what Sanada had wanted to discuss with him, though he assumed there was something to be discussed. Yukimura wasn't here, nor were any of their other team mates, and Yanagi wanted to know why. The thought that Sanada had clearly deliberately singled him out both excited him and worried him, because Sanada had not yet given any indication as to why they were both here in this room, drinking tea on a Sunday afternoon.

He eyed the biscuits on the table. Sanada hadn't moved to eat anything and Yanagi knew he was unlikely to. Eating while drinking tea in such a formal manner would be unlike Sanada, who seemed to treat the tea, rather than his guest, as the most important part of their afternoon.

Yanagi cast his eyes back up to the scene behind Sanada, wondering what the other boy thought when he looked outside and saw his garden every day. He knew Sanada must spend time in the dojo, but to think of him walking outside amongst the trees was something Yanagi had never before considered. He tried to imagine Sanada doing so, but he felt odd having Sanada's eyes on him again.

He put down his tea, picking up a biscuit and biting into it. He realised once he'd done so that Sanada would only have put them out for him, not for himself. They were simple sesame crackers and Yanagi wouldn't have eaten them but for the fact that he felt odd not doing anything while Sanada watched him. He felt as though Sanada kept wanting to speak, yet they'd barely spoken ten words to each other since Yanagi had arrived.

Why was it that unspoken words could create so much tension? Was it something that was all in Yanagi's own mind?

He took another bite of his biscuit and stared past Sanada again to the sides of the room, allowing his vision to slip out of focus as he stared absentmindedly at one of the paintings. They were old – probably antiques which had been passed down from Sanada's mother's side of the family.

Movement in front of Yanagi caught his attention. His breath hitched as Sanada reached towards him, leaning forwards and brushing his hand against Yanagi's chest lightly.

"Gen…" Yanagi started, confused.

Sanada brushed Yanagi's shirt twice more and then sat back again, picking up his tea again as though he hadn't just done anything out of the ordinary.

"Sorry. You had crumbs on your shirt. They might have fallen into your tea," Sanada explained.

"Oh," Yanagi responded, not really comprehending what Sanada had said. "Thank you… but…"

He stared at his tea cup, not understanding whether he ought to be disappointed or not. He actually didn't like tea much, but Sanada wouldn't have known that, and the type Sanada had given him was actually okay. It didn't make Yanagi want to spit it back out again at any rate.

(S)

It was dark by the time they finished drinking their tea and made their way to the front door. Yanagi felt almost lost. No reason had been given for inviting him and Sanada had barely spoken. He'd kept his hands in his lap or clasped around his tea cup the whole time and though he had stared at lot at Yanagi, all it had served to do was to make Yanagi's skin feel flushed and make his stomach flutter. 

He couldn't understand it. He couldn't understand what Sanada was thinking.

"Was there anything else you wanted?" he asked, keeping his voice neutral.

Sanada shook his head, and Yanagi noticed the way his adam's apple moved as he swallowed. "No. Why do you ask?"

Yanagi looked at him carefully, suddenly uncertain how he was supposed to interpret Sanada's words.

Sanada's gaze was never anything but intense, but in the hallway where they stood, it made Yanagi feel as though Sanada were waiting for him to speak instead of vice versa. The inside of his mouth was dry with nervousness as he realised he wasn't sure what they were doing, and that he should have not spoken and kept his question to himself.

"No… I didn't invite you for anything else," Sanada replied, his words a little disjointed.

Yanagi wasn't quite able to hide his confusion and surprise at Sanada's response. He was caught between thinking himself lucky and thinking himself cursed.

He stood on the spot for a moment and then excused himself.

As he stepped out of the front door, he thought he heard a sigh, yet when he turned his head, all he saw was Sanada closing the door behind him, his dark kimono highlighting the pale colour of his skin in the night light.

Yanagi stopped walking for a moment. They were in autumn; he knew that. He couldn't help but think that no matter how much time passed, there would always be infinite things that would remind him of Sanada, and Sanada reminded him of so many of the things he liked.

He tried to recall the image of Sanada sitting still against a backdrop of olden style architecture, autumn leaves and trees and a garden of statues and water, on the tatami painted gold in the sunlight, and he knew he'd never be able to capture the vivid colours perfectly in his mind ever again because in his mind, all he could see was Sanada.

He smiled wryly to himself as he started walking again, feet crunching against loose gravel, reminding himself that he was walking home by himself once again.

(S)

"You went where on Sunday?" Kirihara asked loudly. 

Yanagi blushed a bit, slightly annoyed at his junior. Kirihara still hadn't grown out of some of his annoying middle school habits and Yanagi really wished he would.

"I went to Genichirou's house," he replied carefully, keeping his voice low.

"What for?" Kirihara asked. "Why wasn't I invited?"

Yanagi shrugged lightly, pulling his tennis racquet from his bag and testing it, flipping it around his wrist. "I… I don't know."

"You don't know to which question?"

Yanagi shook his head. "Both of them," he answered, trying to look nonchalant. It bothered him that he didn't know what Sanada was thinking. He knew he was hoping for the impossible – hoping that Sanada had meant something by it – but he was going to keep that to himself.

"So what did you do there?" Kirihara persisted.

Yanagi shook his head again, wishing the questioning would stop. "We… drank tea," he answered, and hoped it didn't sound so stupid as he thought it did.

"I thought you didn't like tea," Kirihara blurted out, a little confused.

Yanagi startled. "No… I never said that," he corrected. "I said there were certain varieties…"

Both he and Kirihara looked towards the change room door as it clicked and then swung open.

As Sanada walked in, it took one glance at his expression for Yanagi to decide it was a good time to walk out. He had a funny feeling Sanada might have been standing behind the door a bit longer than necessary.

(S)

"Kaa-san? Where are those packets of green tea?" Yanagi called out, looking up from where he was searching in the kitchen cupboards. 

His mother frowned. "We finished them. You don't remember? I asked you to buy some more on your way home from school the other day."

Yanagi gave her a long look; one he hoped looked slightly annoyed, but his mother was unrelenting and simply stared back until Yanagi huffed a little and got up, walking back to his room.

He flopped down on his bed and reached to his bedside table for the book he'd been reading the night before. He felt like drinking tea all of a sudden but he wasn't about to walk down to the supermarket to buy something he knew was only a poor substitute for the real thing.

He hadn't always hated tea, but Inui had gone through some funny phases as a child and being his best friend had meant Yanagi was also his best test subject. Sometimes Yanagi wondered if his dislike for beetles and his fear of anything small and moving which would fit into a blender hadn't come from Inui as well.

He'd picked up numerous likes, dislikes and habits just being around other people, he knew – a dislike of sweet cakes from eating meals with his grandparents, a love of doubles tennis from playing with Inui, a love of watching singles tennis from watching Yukimura play, a dislike of umbrellas from Niou and his never-ending supply of unfunny party tricks, and a love for the rich yellow colour of the Rikkaidai uniform, amongst other things.

He'd hated all kinds of tea at one stage, hadn't he? Did he only like it again now because it was Sanada who had made it for him?

(S)

Yanagi's hair was in his eyes. He needed a haircut. 

He walked into the change rooms, pushing his hair from his eyes as he went. He'd have to do something about it soon or he'd have to start tying it back with a hair elastic, and he'd never thought much of other guys who did that.

He stopped as he realised Yukimura was in front of his locker, talking with Sanada. He'd been warming down for a lot longer than the others so he supposed it made sense that they were all in here before them. Kirihara looked ready to leave already and Yukimura had already finished changing as well.

"My mother is actually away," Yanagi heard Sanada saying, and stopped himself from asking Yukimura to move. He stood behind Yukimura for a moment as Sanada continued. "If you're busy…"

"No," Yukimura shook his head. "No… Why don't I just come with you now? Your house isn't too far away and I can always stop by the shops on the way home anyway."

Yanagi sucked in a slightly ragged breath. "You're going to Genichirou's house?" he asked loudly, making himself heard. Yukimura turned around and smiled at him and Yanagi bit down on the inside of his mouth, annoyed.

Yukimura knew.

Yukimura knew what he was thinking and Yanagi had just given himself away, he was sure of it.

"Genichirou wanted to invite us to tea," Yukimura explained, smiling slightly. He watched for Yanagi's reaction, knowing the other boy well enough to see the ways his eyes widened and he seemed to suck his left cheek in more as he bit on it.

Yanagi stood still on the spot. "Us?" he repeated. He looked at Sanada's face, recognising the slight look of surprise, quickly masked by annoyance and a furrowing of his brow.

"You don't have to come," he grunted. "I know you don't like tea."

Yanagi frowned. "I didn't say that. I said-"

"You needn't have come at all if you hated tea," Sanada snapped, shutting him up. "What did you come for anyway? Because you were obeying captain's orders?"

Yukimura chuckled. "Actually, _I'm_ the captain. You're the vice," he smiled, and poked Sanada in the arm, completely ignoring his stormy mood.

By the door, Niou and Jackal gave each other wary looks and Marui let the bubble he was blowing pop. Even Kirihara seemed a little unnerved by their vice captain's sudden change of mood.

"I don't think I'll come over today anyway, now that I think about it," Yukimura said loudly. "I just remembered I promised to help Akaya look for some new shoes and we're going to get his racquet restrung. It'll take a while and you won't want to wait for me."

"But Seiichi-" Sanada looked lost.

"No buts," Yukimura corrected. "Besides, Yanagi seems to want to go with you anyway."

"That's not what I said!" Yanagi protested instinctively, causing Sanada to turn to look at him once more. The hurt look on his face only made Yanagi want to bang his head into the locker behind him. Why couldn't his mouth just cooperate with him for once?

Yukimura grabbed Kirihara's arm and they were out of the change rooms in an instant. Niou, Yagyuu and the others followed, not wanting to be around when Sanada snapped.

"Genichirou…" Yanagi faltered. "That's not… That's not what I meant."

Sanada pulled his bag out of his locker, slamming the metal door shut.

"Genichirou?" Yanagi ventured, trying to get his thoughts back in order. He felt scrambled and his words were coming out strangely. Gone were his usual precision and care with words and his calm tone of voice. He was having trouble talking to Sanada and it wasn't the first time.

It was just the first time he'd messed things up so badly…

"Renji," Sanada said sternly.

"Yes?"

"Hurry up and get changed. I can't lock up until you're out of here."

Yanagi flinched at his tone. "Akaya was only telling half the truth," he said, unsure where they were headed. "He was partially correct to say I disliked tea anyway. I did hate it for a while, a few years ago."

Sanada was silent so Yanagi continued dryly; "I think if you had had to drink it along with _beetles_, you might not be fond of it either."

"_Beetles_," Sanada repeated.

Yanagi shrugged. "Well I never asked Sadaharu what the hairy legs in my juice were. I assumed I was better off not knowing."

Sanada crossed his arms, looking away from Yanagi. "What does Inui have to do with any of this?"

Yanagi looked up sharply. The fact that Sanada recognised Inui's name so easily was intriguing. He studied Sanada's face for a sign as to why he was picking out Inui, but all he got was a stern look.

He stared a moment longer when it clicked that there was a possibility that Sanada was jealous. Yanagi licked his lips as he considered the thought. Then he thought it would be safer to avoid continuing the topic.

Perhaps he was a fool, but he didn't mind the thought that jealousy was what it was, and if holding onto his delusions meant not knowing exactly what Sanada was thinking, then he thought he might just do that.

Changing the topic back, he sighed a little. "I… don't like all tea; that's true," he admitted, "and you were right in saying that I accepted your invitation because it was you who asked, but you were wrong in assuming it was because I was obeying an order and doing what you wanted."

He frowned a little to himself as he realised he was wavering on saying what he'd wanted to say for a long time. He could never tell when it was the right time to say something or not. Sanada's expression wasn't giving anything away so Yanagi decided to take the easier way out.

He hadn't given anything away to Sanada all this time, and he didn't intend to start now when he was sure it would get them both nowhere.

"I accepted your invitation because it was what I wanted to do, Genichirou," he clarified, picking his bag up off the bench. "And yes," he sighed, "I don't like all types of tea…"

Yanagi walked to the door. "…But I do like yours,' he finished, and stepped out.

He couldn't care less about wearing his training clothes home. He wasn't about to stick around with Sanada and wait for him to figure things out. Even saying that much to Sanada made him wonder if it was already too much; if Sanada would interpret his comments the way Yanagi actually meant them and if he'd ask Yanagi what he meant by them.

Maybe he was almost hoping that was what Sanada would do, Yanagi thought, shaking his head to himself.

A minute later, as he reached the school gates, Sanada caught up to him.

"Renji," he called out.

Yanagi pushed a hand into his pocket and turned slightly, biting the inside of his mouth again.

"Are you going home?" Sanada asked, loudly, his hand scrunching the strap of his tennis bag.

Yanagi nodded. He wasn't about to humour Sanada by asking him where else he might go at this time. He wasn't in a good mood and he didn't think Sanada would be either, if he asked him that question.

Still, Yanagi waited on the spot, waiting for an explanation as to why Sanada had come after him.

None was forthcoming.

"Your father will be expecting you at the dojo, won't he?" Yanagi said quietly, hoping Sanada would take the hint.

Sanada looked away, looking uncomfortable. "Come with me," he eventually managed to say, grasping Yanagi's arm and pulling him in the direction of his house.

(S)

Sanada still hadn't said anything since they'd reached this room and Yanagi's leg was starting to go numb. They had only been sitting here for six minutes by his watch – six minutes and forty two seconds, to be precise – but sitting in seiza was uncomfortable for him and made his ankles feel odd and the tops of his feet feel sore where they sat against the floor. Besides, it felt like a lot longer than six minutes. He was still unsure why Sanada had invited him over again and whether that meant he was forgiven or not.

He licked his lips, slightly tense, and watched as Sanada poured tea into their cups.

The room was quiet.

Sanada put the teapot back down on the table and sat back down, staring at Yanagi.

The sun was in Yanagi's eyes again; a bright warmth and an almost unpleasant glare which meant he had to squint to focus on Sanada's face.

"Do you always drink tea in here?" he asked.

Sanada gave a nod. "It's one of my mother's favourite rooms."

Yanagi didn't feel the need to point out that Sanada hadn't said anything about liking it himself.

He concentrated on drinking his tea, trying to ignore the fact that it was hot. The heat of the liquid hurt his lips and he slurped a little as he pulled the cup away from him, cringing.

"Sorry," he apologised, feeling silly.

Sanada shook his head, reaching over and pulling Yanagi's cup from his hands. Their fingers touched, surprising Yanagi. He pulled his hands back quickly, staring across at Sanada.

"Don't drink it if it's so hot," Sanada frowned, placing the cup back down on the table.

Yanagi was at a loss for things to say. He muttered a small 'yes' and wondered how things had become so awkward between them.

"I should go," he began, putting his hands at the edge of the table, preparing to stand up. "I didn't tell my mother I'd be late and I have homework for tomorrow…"

"Wait… Renji," Sanada said quietly. "You said… Before, you said that you…"

Yanagi waited, watching as Sanada struggled with whatever he wanted to say.

"You don't want to stay for dinner? I like you-"

Yanagi blinked, brow furrowed and then eyes wide as he realised what Sanada had just said.

"I-I mean, I'd like you to… stay for dinner," Sanada said hurriedly, loudly.

Yanagi was glad he'd had his knees on the floor already. He fell back onto his legs, hands either side of him, staring at Sanada. He was sipping his tea, refusing to look at Yanagi now, even though he'd been staring at him ever since they'd entered this room.

Yanagi was sure he hadn't misheard. He could only hear his heart thumping in his ears now, but a moment ago, he was sure Sanada had clearly said… "You said-"

"I said, you should stay for dinner," Sanada interrupted tersely, almost glaring at Yanagi. He fingered the edge of the table for a moment, knuckles turning white.

"I'll tell my father," he announced abruptly, standing up and striding towards the open door, leaving Yanagi no room for argument.

Yanagi waited until he heard Sanada calling out somewhere down one of the hallways. He sat still, unable to get up even if he wanted to. He was sure his foot had stopped feeling any sensation a whole minute ago, but he decided he really didn't care.

Then he picked up his cup of tea, staring at it a little before taking another tentative sip.

He smiled to himself, closing his eyes and appreciating the taste of it. He didn't mind the way Sanada made it – it didn't contain beetle legs and it wasn't like any other blend Yanagi had tasted – but he suspected a few more afternoons spent in this room with Sanada, and he might actually start loving it.

.fin.


End file.
